Carton for packaging frangible articles



March 1963 R. H. GREENWELL ETAL 3,

CARTON FOR PACKAGING FRANGIBLEI ARTICLES Filed Oct. 18, 1961 J'nuenio 715/ .firace E l/Zznpyke Kobe/"2. 17'. Greenwell .Fz'ckardGflZzczZeck and Gerald 1 Rickard? such as foldable paperboard,

United States Patent 3,082,931 CARTON F OR PACKAGING FRANGIBLE Filed Oct. 18, 1961, Ser. No. 145,910 1 Claim. (Cl. 22937) This invention relates to cartons for packaging frangible articles, and more particularly to a carton especially suitable for use in the packaging of such frangible articles as electric light bulbs.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved carton formed from a sheet of suitable flexible material, which is of simple design and construction so as to be economical to produce, yet which possesses the strength and structural rigidity required for the packaging of frangible article-s such as electric light bulbs.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision, in the carton of the type described, of a polygonal tubular structure having at the corners thereof opposed pairs of cooperating bellows type supporting members operable to suspend a frangible article within the carton in a position free from contact with the plane surfaces of the carton side walls.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from an examination of the following description and drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a carton embodying features of the invention, with an electric light bulb shown positioned within the carton;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary top plan view of the structure illustrated in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a partial vertical section taken on line 33 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a reduced plan View of a blank from which the carton of the other views may be formed.

It will be understood that, for purposes of clarity, certain elements have been intentionally omitted from certain views Where they are illustrated to better advantage in other views.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understanding of the invention, it will be seen that the carton embodying features of the invention, as illustrated in FIG- URE 1, can be formed from a one-piece blank 10, illustrated in FIGURE 4, of suitable flexible sheet material such as foldable paperboard.

Still referring to FIGURE 4, will be seen that the blank is cut and scored to provide a series of interconnected side wall panels 12, preferably four in number, which are hingedly connected to each other on parallel hinge lines 14 extending transversely of the blank. Al-

though the carton illustrated in the drawing is shown as comprising four side Walls, the particular number of side walls is not significant as far as the invention is concerned, as the invention can be applied to any polygonal tubular carton. At one end of the blank there may be provided an elongated glue panel or flap 16 which is hingedly attached to the adjacent side wall panel 12 by a transverse hinge line 18 which extends parallel to the previously mentioned hinge lines. In the formation of the carton the side wall panels are folded about their re spective hinge lines at an angle of 90 to form the tubular structure shown in FIGURE 1 with the glue panel =16 being disposed in overlapping relationship with the remote side wall panel 12 of the blank and fixedly secured thereto in any desired manner, such as by adhesive, to form a collapsible, sleeve-like construction open at opposite ends so as to be capable of receiving and supporting therewithin a frangible article such as the electric light bulb B illustrated in the drawing.

In order to retain the article in proper position, the carton is provided at each of its corners with a pair of cooperating upper and lower, or inner and outer, article supporting bellows members 20 and 22, respectively, which are spaced from each other a short distance longitudinally of the carton and which are disposed in transverse alignment With each other. The respective pairs of supporting members are disposed in alignment with each other longitudinally of the carton, and are also preferably disposed adjacent one end of the carton for co operation with each other in receiving the enlarged portion of the article supported therein, in a manner shown in FIGURE 1.

Each of the bellows members includes a pair of gusset elements, the gusset elements of the respective outer bellows members 20 being designated 20a and the gusset elements of the respective inner bellows members 22 being designated 22a. The gusset elements of each pair are similar to each other and disposed symmetrically on opposite sides of the hinge line interconnecting the respective side panels from which they are formed. The gusset elements of each pair are hinged to each other along a hinge line 34 which is in reality an extension or part of the hinge line '14 interconnecting the respective side wall panels from which the respective gusset elements of the pair have been formed.

Inasmuch as the bellows members of each pair are spaced from other longitudinally of the car-ton, for purposes of explanation the edges of the bellows members of each pair which are disposed adjacent each other will be referred to as the inboard edges, and the edges which are disposed remote from each other will be referred to as the outboard edges.

With respect to each pair of bellows members, the inboard edges of the respective members are defined by a pair of upper and lower transversely extending cut lines 28 and 32, respectively, which extend for the entire width of each bellows member across both of its gusset elements.

It will be noted that out line 28 of each upper member 20 preferably extends further inboardly at its center point than at its ends so that the edge of the member comes to a point in the center; Whereas, out line 30 of the member is gene-rally concave in shape as it extends further inboardly at its sides than at its center point. The outboard ends of the bellows members are defined by relatively short transverse straight cuts 26 extending a portion of the width of the bellows member across both gusset elements.

The outer sides of the gusset elements of each pair of bellows members are defined by a pair of preferably parallel cut lines 24 extending longitudinally of the carton. It will be noted that the cut lines 24 in cooperation with the cut 'lines 28 and 30 serve to form an opening extending through the side walls of the carton. Also, it will be noted that the cut lines 24 defining the outer side edges of the gussets extend from the respective inboard cut lines 28 and 3t) outbo-ardly only about half of the length of the gussets. In addition to being hingedly connected to each other on the hinge lines 34, the gussets of each article supporting member are hingedly attached to the respective side wall panels from which they are formed by the outboard converging diagonal score lines 36 which extend from the outer extremities of the outboard transverse cut 26 to the outboard extremities of the longitudinal cuts 24.

Thus, it will be seen that when the carton is erected and an article placed in position the upper and lower bel lows members of each pair can be folded into the carton with the gussets of each article supporting member serving as a cradle to receive opposite surfaces of the article supported and thereby suspend the article in the carton so that the article is free from attachment or connection with the vertical or plane surfaces of the side Walls of the carton. In this manner the article is cushioned from shock and the danger of breakage is thereby minimized.

It will be noted that the gusset of each article supporting member has a portion located inboardly of the hinge lines 36 which portion has two side and inboard edges. The purpose of this is to afford a greater degree of flexibility than would be obtained by an arrangement wherein the hinge line 36 extends directly from the outer edge of the inboard cut to the outer edge of the outboard cut, so asto become in effect the entire outer side edge of the gusset.

We claim:

A unitary, polygonal, tubular, carton, for packaging a frangible article such as an electric light bulb, formed of a single sheet of suitable flexible material, such as foldable paperboard, comprising in combination: a plurality of relatively thin, flat, elongated side wall panels hingedly interconnected at their side edges to form a multi-cornered sleeve-like structure; said structure having at each corner thereof a pair of article supporting bellows members spaced from each other longitudinally of the carton and aligned with each other transversely of the carton; said members serving as the sole means for supporting a packaged article in a position free from contact with the plane surfaces oi the carton side Wall panels the members of each pair having corresponding ends extending toward each other with the portion of the carton between said ends being cut away to provide display openings in the carton; each of said members including a pair of gusset elements formed from adjacent portions of a pair of interconnected related side wall panels; said pair of gusset elements being hinged to each other at their inside edges along the same hinge line which interconnects said related side wall panels; the inboard edges of said gusset elements being defined by a transverse inboard cut extending the entire width of the gusset elements across said related side wall panels; the outboard edges of said gusset elements being defined by a transverse outboard cut extending only a portion of the width of said gusset elements across said related panels; the outer side edges of said gusset elements being defined by a pair of longitudinal cuts in the related side wall panels extending outboardly from said inboard transverse cut only a portion of the length of said gusset elements, and by a pair of diagonal outboardly converging score lines which extend from the outboard extremities of the respective longitudinal cuts to provide each of the bellows members with a free inboard end portion to the outer extremities of the respective outboard cuts; said score lines hingedly connecting the gusset sections to their respective side wall panels so that the gusset sections of each pair of bellows members can be folded into the structure with said free end portions flexibly suspending the article within the carton free from contact with the non-bellows portions of the side walls.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,723,795 MacKenzie Nov. 15, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 203,953 Great Britain Sept. 20, 1923 753,344- Great Britain July 25, 1956 

